Trump cites 'treasonous' and 'evil' acts

Jeff Mason and Susan Heavey

AAP

Tuesday, 26 March 2019 6:03 am

President Donald Trump has accused enemies of treasonous acts after the Mueller report cleared him.Image: AAP

President Donald Trump has lashed out at unnamed enemies, accusing them of evil actions and treason, a day after his attorney general released a summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings clearing the president's campaign of conspiring with Russia in the 2016 US election.

"We're glad it's over. It's 100 per cent the way it should have been," Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. "I wish it could have gone a lot sooner, a lot quicker.

"There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things, very bad things, I would say treasonous things against our country," Trump added without mentioning anyone by name or citing specific actions.

Attorney General William Barr, the top US law enforcement official, on Sunday released a four-page summary of the findings of Mueller's 22-month investigation that detailed Russian interference in the 2016 US election, but said the special counsel had concluded that Trump's campaign did not conspire with Moscow.

A fierce fight was brewing on Monday over how much of Mueller's Russia investigation findings should be made public. Democrats are demanding a full release but a lawyer for the president said key information - such as Trump's written responses in the inquiry - must be withheld.

Trump indicated that he wants new investigations, although he did not specify who would conduct them or who should be targeted. Trump in the past has called for investigations of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate he defeated in 2016.

"Those people will certainly be looked at. I've been looking at them for a long time," he said in the Oval Office while sitting alongside visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "And I'm saying, why haven't they been looked at? They lied to congress. Many of them. And you know who they are.

"We can never let this happen to another president again."

The Mueller investigation had cast a cloud over the Republican Trump's presidency but he has declared himself fully exonerated by Barr's summary.

Trump had repeatedly accused Mueller, a former FBI director, of running a "witch hunt" with a team of "thugs" and having conflicts of interest. But when asked on Monday if Mueller had acted honourably, Trump said, "Yes."

Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a Trump ally, said he would ask Barr to appoint a special counsel to look into the origins of the Russia probe, which was first handled by the FBI and then by Mueller after the president fired the agency's director, James Comey.

The end of the Mueller inquiry and Barr's summary handed Trump a political victory ahead of his 2020 re-election effort, but did not end the investigative pressure on the president. Democrats gave no indication of easing up on their multiple congressional investigations into Trump's business and personal dealings.

Democrats, who control the US House of Representatives, have called for Mueller's complete findings to be released to congress and the public and vowed to call Barr - a Trump appointee who before taking the job had criticised Mueller's obstruction investigation - to appear before lawmakers to answer questions.

In an appearance earlier in the day on NBC's "Today" program, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, "The media and Democrats have called the president an agent of a foreign government. That is an action equal to treason, which is punishable by death in this country."

Sanders, in remarks to reporters, also urged congressional hearings to investigate a number of prominent Trump critics including former US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and other FBI figures.